Once upon a time when my kids were little I made them aprons. Those aprons are still here, now used by the grandsons. River also wore them, but he's now over 6' tall so has officially outgrown them.

Last year when Joann's went out of business I grabbed all the duck cloth I could get my hands on (to be more specific, I grabbed all the cotton fabrics I could get my hands on - especially the last few days when the fabric was practically being given away!) specifically to make kids aprons from. And make aprons I did! And then I photographed the aprons to list on Etsy and proceeded to sell out of most of the fabric before I got them listed. That's a happy problem to have. :)

I have found a few new fabric sources and am looking for more, and am now very consistently sewing and selling children's aprons at markets. And now is a perfect time to get more listed.

The aprons fit ages 2 to at least 12, and are machine washable and they're great not only in the kitchen but also for woodworking, art, chores, and so much more. This particular print is a little more girly with the flowers and purple, but I do have many that are more boyish/neutral.

This farm animal apron can be found here.

My kids with their aprons, made from mens button down shirts:

It has been far too long, but I've finally found time to make some quilts. And I dusted off the long arm quilter for some of them. I'm feeling very satisfied with myself, and can't wait to make more, more, more.

Here's the first of the finished quilts - 

It can be found in the Jude Harbor Etsy shop here. 

Simple pattern, but taken up a notch by turning the blocks on-point.

Many of the fabrics come from Lori Holt collections, some others I'm not as sure of the origins. My mother had a friend who could no longer sew and asked if I wanted some of her fabrics. Um, YES! And that's how I inhered two file boxes jam packed with mostly wonderful Lori Holt fabrics (and a few others being used for upcoming projects). I've had so much fun with these new fabrics (and don't get me started on the fabrics I picked up at some great prices at Joann over the last month - I've had to add many, many long shelves to the sewing room to accommodate that haul).

In other, even more wonderful news, I got a call at the beginning of December asking if I'd care for a newborn baby when he got out of the NICU. Um, YES, yes, yes! He's been with us for almost six months now and is a joy. We're head over heals in love with him and are very blessed to have him in our company.

 

Four or five months ago our cat (and model) Hippo got out of the house "somehow" (ok, he's overweight ... we allow him to sneak out in hopes that he'll lose some weight). He came home a few hours later with a friend. 

His friend was an adorable, small, vocal gray cat. This fellow was immediately named Buddy, because he's Hippo's buddy.

I posted pictures of him on our local facebook groups and no one seems to know anything about him. So for the last few months we've been talking to him, trying to get a little bit closer to him, and feeding him each evening (he mostly comes by after dark). Years ago Hippo put a hole in the screen on our porch so Buddy uses that to get onto the lanai where his food is.

For a long time I wasn't seeing much of him but the food was gone in the morning, so I'd just set some out before bed.

That worked really well until one evening I walked past the lanai, checked for Buddy, and saw this instead:

Opossum was much less concerned about my presence than Buddy ever is and ate the whole bowl of food!

Now Buddy gets fed only when we see him!

 Two months without a post but with very, very good reason.

 River needed to perform community service for a Boy Scout merit badge he was earning. Given his age (12) and Covid restrictions finding a place to volunteer wasn't easy so he got creative and suggested fostering kittens for one of our local shelters.

In no time at all Quebec and Romeo were at our house, two less than four-week old kittens. While they are both black and about the same ago they were not litter-mates, we got Romeo first and Quebec a day later - they do so much better when they're not singletons and the two bonded immediately and were so good for each other.

 

A day after getting our kittens Cassie decided she'd foster as well and she's now temporarily rearing Duck and Goose - who are absolutely adorable. Duck is slow to gain weight, having a metabolism I can only dream of, so she's had hers a little longer.

When Q and R first arrived they were syringe fed every 3 hours, moving to every 4 hours after a week or two.  They did not "relieve" themselves on their own and had to be stimulated with a cloth to go. They were given every hand towel in our house and we still had to do their laundry 3-4 times a day between pottying and bathing (because of pottying).

As they got older they got so much easier! By the time they left us, at about 8 weeks old, they were eating soft food and kibble, and using a litter box like the big cats that they were.

Romeo was always a little bigger than Quebec, but each of them more than tripled their weight while they were with us.

Big question ... how did we tell them apart? Quebec has a white stripe on his belly. But to be able to tell them apart without flipping one upside down Quebec wore lipstick on the back of his left ear ... without that we'd have been lost. As they got older it got easier - Romeo has bigger eyes and Quebec's eyes were more blue-green than Romeo's. Quebec was a bit smaller. One of them had a few white furs on his legs, the other on his ears. And their personalities were different. By the time they were about 5 weeks old I could tell them apart, River never mastered that.

We loved having them with us and can't wait to foster again after summer. Quebec was adopted by Mia and he and Linc are best of friends. Romeo went back to the shelter and was adopted within three days of being there.

I'm not really sure how many hours River put in in the six weeks we had the kittens. Definitely enough to meet his requirement.

A few last things:
* foster if you can ... the need is great
* if you see a kitten in the wild watch from a distance for a few hours, Mom is likely getting something to eat

This is Finley, my newest grand-dog. He was adopted by Ian and his girlfriend and this was his first Easter with them. Finley gets out and about a lot because his family lives in a downtown area - so looking dapper matters. It seemed right to send him an Easter card with a little gift - two doggie bandanas that attach to his collar. And I must say he looks quite dashingly handsome.

I found a pattern on the Spoonflower website. It took about five minutes, maybe less, to make the bandanas and another minute or two with the Cricut to add his name and initial.

There's a good chance Finley will be getting a few more of these.

These two and I took a day off to go do some college touring for Kaden, and found the right school for him. :)

On the way home we took a short detour to one of our favorite "Old Florida" spots - a boat ramp and swimming area along the Peace River and one of the few places you can find sharks teeth inland in fresh water. 

We didn't sharks tooth hunt today - we weren't dressed for it and the water was FREEZING cold, but the boys had a great time swinging on a left-over rope swing. 

In the summer that sandy area is mostly underwater. Usually April and May is when the water is at it's lowest and we can search for shark's teeth, so we'll see how it looks in a month, but the water is much higher than it usually is in March due to a rainier winter than usual.

I just love these little off-the-grid spots ... they're getting harder and harder to find as Florida grows and grows, but we'll keep searching for them.

Showing some love for our Mamas. Perfect for Mother's Day or every day.

This keychain features three colorful flowers. The writing is done in silver in a beautiful font - as always the personalization is up to you and a date can be added as well.

Such a great way for Mom to show off the love her family has for her!

Of course, this key chain isn't just for Mother's Day - with the addition of a name it'd be great for a young girl, woman, or anyone who appreciates the beauty of simple flowers. 

Available at the Jude Harbor Etsy shop.

One of our biggest fans enjoying a rousing game of t-ball (he's also my grandson ... and cute as can be).

River played soccer for the first time this fall - he was supposed to play last spring but the season was cancelled due to Covid and moved to this fall. He had so much fun! I wouldn't say it clicked as well as water skiing did for him, but still he enjoyed it and met some great new friends.

Confidentially, and I've probably said it here before at some time, I'm not a big fan of hanging out at soccer practice and all that goes with it. I loved sailing and skiing, I'd gladly drive for hours and spend all day sitting in the Florida heat for those sports, but soccer - which is walking distance from our house and the games and practices are no longer than an hour - is a pain in my side. No idea why - and it really isn't unpleasant at the soccer fields at all and I can get a lot of quilt binding done during practice ... so no idea where this lack of soccering love come from.

But the point is, River loved soccer and while I was making Kane's baseball bag tag / key chain River asked for a soccer one, and that seemed like a pretty great idea. So personalized custom soccer key chains are now available in the Because I'm Me shop, and they're pretty cool.

And for those kiddos who don't want their name on the tag I can also do initials, nicknames, or numbers.

 So ... my 11% Irish-ness introduces our new Jude Harbor Saint Patrick's Day pesonalized custom key chains. 

Whether you're Irish all the time or just one day a year, these super cute custom key chains are sure to be a hit. The clovers / shamrocks are spread throughout and the writing on the tags is in silver. The backside is bright green, and the tags are sealed with epoxy resin on both sides - so they look amazing.

Available at the Jude Harbor shop. These take a few days to make, but there should still be plenty of time to order them for March 17th.